Alone
by ranoraofasgard
Summary: Alexander Pierce is going to be gone somewhere during some of the Winter Soldier's missions...so he leaves Brock Rumlow in charge of him.


A note before I start this fanfic: This story takes place before the events of CA:TWS, and it centers around The Winter Soldier, aka Bucky, but I didn't just want to have to write "the winter soldier" or "the asset" whenever I referred to him, so even though Bucky doesn't know that he is Bucky, I will be referring to him as Bucky throughout the fanfic. :) Sooooo...here you go:

It was dark in the underground Hydra base. The only light sources were the bright lamps around the room and hanging from the ceiling. Alexander Pierce stood next to a metal table where The Winter Soldier was sitting, being prepped for another mission after being thawed out of cryo freeze. Pierce pulled up a chair and sat down in it.

"You have two missions this month. Both of them are standard assassinations, single targets. But I am leaving for a few months on a business trip and I won't be here to oversee them."

Bucky always took his orders from Pierce and only Pierce. He was terrified of Pierce and part of him was relieved he was going to go away. Another part of him panicked because he relied on Pierce for everything and he didn't know what to do without him.

But he didn't express any of what he was thinking..he only sat there and listened to Pierce and gave him his completely undivided attention.

Pierce motioned to someone standing a little ways across the room. He walked towards Pierce and stood next to him, facing Bucky.

"This is Agent Brock Rumlow. I know you've seen him before."

Bucky shuddered a little. He recognized Rumlow as one of the men who was often part of the agents who would torture and beat him when ordered to by Pierce.

"You are to obey everything he says and let him do whatever he wants with you. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Bucky replied softly.

Pierce continued talking. "Agent Rumlow is one of our top agents. He's the best interrogation specialist we have."

Rumlow smiled. "That's just a fancy way to say I know alot about torture."

Bucky shuddered quite visibly this time. It just made Rumlow smile even more.

Pierce turned to Rumlow. "I have a plane to catch. I believe you have everything under control here."

"Yes, sir." Rumlow replied. "Oh, and sir, any limits or anything else I should know?" "Limits? Don't you mean you want to know how much you can torture him?" Pierce replied with a small grin. Rumlow just gave a small nod and smirked.

"As long as he's still breathing when I get back. Do whatever you want Rumlow...I don't care."

"Thank you sir." Rumlow replied. Pierce smirked, nodded and walked out of the room.

Rumlow turned back to Bucky.

"So, you have a mission tomorrow. I need to fill you in on what you need to know."

Rumlow proceeded to tell Bucky all the information necessary for his mission. Then he trained him on any technology or weapons he was not up to date on.

The next day The Winter Soldier was sent on his mission, which he sucessfully completed. He returned to the Hydra base in a few days.

Bucky never gave a second thought to what he was doing...it was an order, and he never questioned orders. Somehow though, deep inside, he knew he shouldn't be killing the people he did. That it was wrong. But he never questioned orders. He was too scared of what Hydra would do to him if he did, so whenever those thoughts came into his mind, he pushed them aside.

His next mission was a day later, and he also succesfully completed that without a problem. Almost perfectly. Even Rumlow seemed quite impressed with how well it had been done when Bucky reported back.

Bucky was ready to go back into cryofreeze after that mission, as was customary. It was the way things were almost always done.

But Rumlow had other ideas.

"So, Winter, now that you've completed your missions, I can have a little fun."

The way Rumlow said that scared Bucky. He had been very careful to not mess up anything on his missions and completely obey all his orders because he didn't want to be punished. And now Rumlow was talking like he was going to punish him.

Why? No one had said he had done anything wrong...and he had already been debriefed which would have involved any punishment he was going to get.

Bucky was puzzled and scared but he didn't say a word.

Rumlow motioned to some other Hydra agents. "Put him into one of the interrogation rooms." Then he left the room.

Bucky's expression changed to one of panic and complete terror. But when the other Hydra agents ordered him to come with them he did so without a second thought. They led him into a room, told him to stay there and closed the door. The room had one metal wall and the rest were concrete. It was cold, especially since he didn't have a shirt on. There were bright white lights everywhere illuminating the dark walls. Bucky recognized the room. He had been in it and many like it multiple times. The memories of that room were ones of pain and terror. He tried to not think about it and pushed the memories out of his thoughts.

A moment later Rumlow walked in. He was carrying some stuff he put on a table.

He walked toward Bucky who was standing in the middle of the room.

"So where should I start?" Rumlow said with a smirk.

Then without warning he punched Bucky in the face. Hard. Bucky tasted blood, but before he could do anything else Rumlow kicked him in the shins and he fell down to the floor on his knees. Rumlow kicked him again in the rib cage. Bucky crumpled up into a ball on the floor.

Rumlow stood back. "Sit up."

Bucky gave a small moan as he pushed himself up off the floor. Rumlow had kicked him in the ribs so hard it hurt him to breathe.

Bucky wouldn't look at Rumlow. He hardly ever looked anyone except his targets in the face. He knew it could seem defiant and he was told he was nothing, far less important than anyone else. So he didn't deserve to look anyone in the face anyway. Rumlow didn't seem to like it that he wouldn't look at him though.

"Look at me." he said roughly.

Bucky swallowed and slowly lifted up his gaze to Rumlow's face.

"Who are you?"

"No one."

"That's right. You never were anyone and you never will be."

Bucky didn't understand. This was usually what happened when he was being punished for something. He desperately tried to think if he had done something wrong, but he couldn't think of anything.

Rumlow spoke again. "What are you?"

"A weapon."

"And why do you exist?"

"To serve Hydra."

"Who are you?"

"Nobody."

Rumlow kept asking the same questions over and over again.

Bucky kept answering until he was on the verge of tears. He didn't know why this was happening to him. What had he done wrong?

Finally Rumlow stopped asking questions. He looked at the watch he was wearing. "Well, sadly, as much as I am enjoying this, it's late and time for me to quit for the day. But there's just one more thing."

Rumlow went and picked something up off one of the tables. It was a harness.

Bucky let a small whimper escape him when he saw it. Hydra had often tied him up with it when they were torturing him.

Rumlow brought the harness over to Bucky. Bucky swallowed and kept repeatedly whispering a pleading "No." which was barely audible.

Rumlow ordered him to stand up. He obeyed, stood up and put his arms behind his back for Rumlow to put the harness on.

Rumlow slipped the harness onto Bucky and made it as tight and uncomfortable as possible.

It pulled his shoulders back so far that any farther and they would be dislocated.

Bucky gave a few small whimpers as Rumlow pulled the harness tight. When Rumlow was finished he kicked Bucky in the shins again and Bucky fell to the hard floor with a cry.

"'Night, Winter. I'll see you tomorrow." Rumlow said as he left the room.

Bucky could barely move, but with some struggling he was able to get himself onto his knees, which was much more comfortable than the position he had just been in, but not by much. His shoulders hurt from being in the un-natural position they were in. And it still hurt to breathe from where Rumlow had kicked him.

Bucky was confused and scared. He tried to figure out why Rumlow was doing this to him. He kept trying to think of what he might have done wrong. He must have done something wrong. Why else would Rumlow be doing this? This is what always happened when he disobeyed or messed up or just did anything Hydra didn't like. He desperately wanted to know what he had done wrong so that he would know not to do it again.

And then he started wondering what Rumlow would do to him tomorrow, which only made him more scared than he already was.

He barely slept that night. It was freezing cold, the harness hurt too much and he would have nightmares which jolted him awake whenever he fell asleep.

Bucky was asleep when Rumlow came in the next morning. Rumlow woke him by slapping him across the face and then throwing a cup of ice cold water on him. The water ran down his back and he started shivering.

"Good morning. Well, at least it's a good morning for me. I doubt you're going to enjoy today as much as I am." Rumlow smirked.

Rumlow went and took Bucky's harness off. Bucky was relieved when Rumlow took it off but his shoulders ached when he moved his arms from being in the same posistion all night.

"So today I think I'll start with something a little different. We just got this and I've been wanting to try it out but haven't got a change to yet...but first I need to chain you up."

Rumlow pointed to another side of the room that two chains were hanging from.

"Get over there."

Bucky got himself up off the floor with some difficulty. He was stiff and sore.

He limped over to the chains, a look on his face that looked pleading and sad, and almost like he was going to cry.

Rumlow didn't even have to tell Bucky to hold out his hands. Bucky did it as soon as Rumlow got the chains ready. Rumlow locked the chains onto both his wrists and then pulled the chains up higher, but Bucky could still stand quite easily. The chains didn't even force him to put his arms up much higher at all.

Rumlow grabbed something off a table that looked like some kind of a whip. It looked like it was made of some kind of metal and it had barbs all along it. Rumlow flicked a swith on it and it crackled with electricity.

Bucky's eyes grew wide when he saw it. He started shaking as Rumlow approached him with it. Rumlow looked at Bucky and gave a small smile. "This is gonna hurt...just in case you didn't know."

Bucky almost started crying. Why was this happening? What had he done? He just wished Rumlow would tell him why he was being punished. Bucky squeezed his eyes shut tightly and whimpered.

Rumlow walked around Bucky so he was facing his back and started whipping him.

Bucky clenched his teeth and winced the first time Rumlow struck him with the whip. And the second time, and the third, and fourth. But by the fifth time Rumlow struck him he was screaming out in pain and clenching his fists so tightly that the nails on his real hand cut down into his skin and he started bleeding.

Bucky was used to being shocked but this, this was so much worse and so much more painful. Besides being shocked the whip ripped down deep into his skin and tore it to shreds.

After only a little while Bucky was in so much pain he couldn't stand up anymore and he sank to his knees, except the chains prevented him from actually kneeling on the ground. He was hanging by his arms and the chain cut the skin on his real wrist.

Rumlow didn't stop for awhile, but he did finally just to take a break for himself.

"I'll be back. Don't go anywhere." He laughed, amused with himself.

Bucky was still in so much pain he was loudly moaning. After awhile the pain died down enough for him to think about something other than that he was hurting. He then realized his back was soaking wet, but it wasn't thin and watery wetness...it was sticky and warm and he knew it was blood.

He just whimpered softly until Rumlow came back into the room.

"All ready for more?" Rumlow said happily. For him this was a wonderful day.

Bucky looked up at Rumlow, his eyes wide with terror and pain. He had to ask Rumlow what he had done wrong...even though he knew he wasn't supposed to ask questions and he could get severly punished for it...but he needed to know what he had done to deserve this.

"Please...what did I do wrong?" He said it slowly, in a pleading voice hardly above a whisper.

Rumlow didn't say anthing in return. He only smiled and switched on the whip in his hand.

The screams began again as soon as he started.

Bucky woke with a start. He looked around...Rumlow was gone. There was no one in the room. He didn't know how long it had been since he had passed out from the pain, but he figured it was now the middle of the night. He was still chained up and his back hurt quite badly.

He tried to stand up but as soon as he did, his back erupted with pain and any wounds that had closed up at least a little burst open again and fresh blood flowed down his back.

Bucky yelled in pain and then fell back down into the position he had previously been in of hanging from the chains.

Bucky didn't know what to do. Rumlow hadn't answered his question when he asked what he did wrong. He had a feeling Rumlow would probably torture him again tomorrow but he wanted to know why...at least if he knew why he could understand why this was happening and take the pain knowing he did something wrong to deserve it.

It was another long sleepless night for Bucky, only much more painful. And he was getting quite thirsty.

He was awake when someone...but not Rumlow...came in the room the next morning.

They had something in their hands, and as they walked closer Bucky saw that it was a cup of water and some food.

The Hydra agent came and set everything down on the table closest to where Bucky was.

He spoke without looking at Bucky. "Rumlow wants you to eat and drink something because he says he doesn't want you passing out all the time from being too weak."

The agent then went to take the chains off of Bucky's wrists, and as soon as he got close and could see Bucky clearly, he stopped and just stared with a look of shock on his face.

After a second he shook his head and went and unlocked the chains.

Bucky fell down and crumpled up into a ball on the floor, and when he did his back was visible to the Hydra agent, who gasped when he saw it.

It looked like a piece of meat that had been put through a grinder. It was bloody and torn and shreds and pieces of skin were everywhere. The agent didn't think Pierce would be alright with this...if The Winter Soldier had actually done something wrong, the agent could understand that, but Rumlow was doing all this simply because he wanted to. Before he could think any more, Rumlow walked in the room.

"Did he eat yet?"

"Uh...no, I didn't get that far yet."

"Well hurry up. I've got a busy day."

"Yes, sir, I will right away."

"Alright...I'll be back in a little bit."

Rumlow left the room. The agent took the food and water and knelt down beside Bucky.

"You really need to eat something. Here..." He set the food and water down in front of Bucky.

Bucky was still in alot of pain but he was also very hungry and thirsty, so he forced himself up so that he was sitting. He ate and drank everything he had been given while the agent stood and watched. When he was done the agent took away the tray the food had been on and the cup.

The agent sighed...he was debating whether or not to say something to Rumlow about how harsh he was being. Bucky was sitting and staring into thin air, a completely blank look on his face. A moment later Rumlow walked back in. He glanced at the empty tray and cup.

"So I guess he's ready?"

"Yes, sir."

"You're welcome to stay and watch if you would like. Except it might be a little loud."

"Uh...no thank you." Then the agent decided to say something else.

"Are you sure Pierce is okay with all of this sir?"

Rumlow quickly turned and looked the agent in the eyes.

"Why do you ask that?"

"Well, he's pretty badly hurt."

Rumlow sighed, then stepped a bit closer to the agent and quickly punched him in the face.

"Get out of here. "

The agent quickly turned and left the room holding a hand to his face where Rumlow had punched him.

Rumlow turned to Bucky.

"Come here and sit down on the table."

Bucky pushed himself up off the ground with a small moan. By the time he had sat down on the table most of the wounds on his back had opened up again from moving around so much. Rumlow pulled something out from a shelf next to the table. It was a container with a clear liquid in it. Rumlow took off the lid. He then showed it to Bucky.

"See this? Looks harmless, right? Wrong."

He then took it and poured it all over Bucky's back.

There was an earsplitting scream as it soaked into Bucky's open wounds. The pain was so blinding Bucky reached out for anything to hold onto. Rumlow's arm just happened to be resting on the table beside his metal one.

Bucky grabbed Rumlow's arm by mistake and squeezed it hard. Rumlow gave a small cry of pain and then punched Bucky in the face as best as he could with his other arm.

As soon as Bucky realized what he was doing he quickly dropped Rumlow's arm and shrank away from him. He was still in so much pain from the alcohol that had been dumped on his back that there were tears streaming down his face.

Rumlow stood and looked at his arm. He winced and muttered something to himself.

Rumlow then turned at looked at Bucky.

Bucky was terrified. He never meant to grab Rumlow's arm.

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry...sorry...I didn't mean to..."

"You better be glad you probably only bruised or sprained it, because you are seriously going to pay for that."

"No...please no, n, no, I'm sorry."

"I don't care if you're sorry, tomorrow you're going to be hurting alot for that. Get off the table."

Bucky stood up and Rumlow kicked his legs out from under him, making Bucky collapse on the floor. Then Rumlow left the room.

Bucky started sobbing uncontrollably, and curled up into a ball on the floor. It was just a mistake...he hadn't meant to hurt Rumlow. So many things flashed through his mind.

No. Sorry. Please. Tomorrow. Hurt. No. Why? No. No. Sorry.

He still didn't understand why he was being punished, but he had accepted the fact that he must have done something wrong, and now he had done something else wrong, something he knew Rumlow was going to severely hurt him for.

He only wanted it all to stop...but he knew it wasn't going to. He was in pain, he was cold and tired, and he didn't know what to do. He rocked himself back and forth in an attempt to comfort himself, but it didn't help much, he kept crying and crying until he didn't have any more tears left to cry. It was still the early afternoon, but he fell asleep, and he actually slept all afternoon and evening and through the night.

It was Rumlow who woke him the next morning with a kick in the side. Bucky toppled over onto the floor and quickly steadied himself with his metal arm.

"I got my arm checked out last night...it's only bruised but it sure still hurts...I hope you're prepared to pay for it."

Bucky cringed, which made Rumlow laugh.

"C'mere."

Bucky got up and walked over to Rumlow. Rumlow pointed to the table and Bucky pulled himself up onto it. Rumlow pulled something out of his pocket. It was a small object. Rumlow flicked his hand a certain way and a small flame came out of the top of it.

Bucky shut his eyes as Rumlow walked around toward his back with the lighter and held it up to his torn skin. He felt the flame start to burn and melt his skin and he made noises that sounded like gasps of pain. Rumlow held the lighter in the same place for a long time, and as it burned down deeper and deeper into his flesh, Bucky felt more and more pain. He wanted to run away from Rumlow, to protect himself, but he wasn't allowed to do that. Pierce had told Bucky that he had to let Rumlow do whatever he wanted with him. It was an order. So he sat there as Rumlow continued to burn his skin all over his back. After a little while Rumlow stopped, and walked in front of Bucky, whose face was wet with tears.

"You asked what you had done wrong? Well, I'll tell you. Nothing. Nothing at all up until yesterday. I can do whatever I want to you, so that's what I'm doing. But you hurt me yesterday, so now you have done something wrong. Something you are now going to pay for."

Bucky winced. He didn't want to know what Rumlow was going to do.

"I want you to break your arm." Rumlow said it casually, as if it were nothing out of the ordinary.

Bucky looked up at Rumlow, a terrified but questioning look on his face.

"How?" he asked quietly.

"You really aren't that smart are you? Use your metal arm to break your other arm. I assume you can do that without a problem. You should just be able to flick your wrist and break it." Rumlow said matter-of-factly.

Bucky swallowed. He was terrified. He had had his arm broken on missions before, and he knew how much it had hurt. Despite that, it was an order, so he slowly reached over and grasped his real arm with his metal one.

"Up a little higher."

Bucky moved his grasp farther up on his arm.

"Wait..." Rumlow reached and grabbed something. "You're probably going to want this."

It was a mouth guard. Rumlow held it up to Bucky's face and Bucky obediently opened his mouth and let Rumlow put it in.

"Whenever you're ready." Rumlow said impatiently.

Bucky bit down on the mouth guard, trying to brace himself for the pain.

He made a small pitiful whimpering sound, then snapped the bone with little effort, and let his arm fall down to his side, his hand resting on the table.

There was a loud sickening crack and Bucky screamed in pain. Even with the mouth guard to help muffle it, it was still loud.

Rumlow smiled as he came over and examined the broken arm. "It's a pretty clean break, but the bone is still set in place. I think you need to fix that...twist it out of place."

Bucky was in so much pain he was barely able to move, but with a yelp of pain, he moved his broken arm so it was reachable with his metal one. He grabbed his broken arm and got prepared to twist the bones out of alignment even more than they already were. He was breathing quite heavily and his breathing got even more rapid as he closed his eyes and then snapped his metal arm in a direction that made the bones move very far out of place. He screamed again, even louder and more agonizing of a scream than when he had originally broken it.

Rumlow came over and looked at the broken, twisted arm. It looked mangled and very much in a position an arm shouldn't be able to be in.

"That's better."

He took the mouth guard out of Bucky's mouth.

"Did it hurt?" Rumlow asked in a taunting voice.

Bucky only gave a whimper in reply.

Rumlow shook his head. "Can you seriously be quiet? You're starting to hurt my ears from all this noise, and you sound absolutely pitiful. If your targets could see you now they'd never be scared of you."

Rumlow actually enjoyed seeing Bucky screaming in pain. But he also enjoyed flaunting his authority over him...he knew Bucky couldn't help screaming, and technically Bucky was allowed to scream. He was always allowed to scream and whimper and moan, even beg. The one thing he was never allowed to do was try to get away or protect himself in any way at all. He had tried to a long time ago in the past and been severly punished for it so he learned to always let Hydra do whatever they wanted to him. He was just supposed to sit there and endure anything they would do. The only way for him to cope with the pain was to scream. Over the past 70 years his voice had mostly been used to scream. Bucky hated hearing his own screams. He was so familiar with them, and he almost always had nightmares about them which made him sick when he woke up.

Bucky was in too much pain to do anything but make awful noises that revealed how much pain he really was in, but Rumlow didn't care at all.

Rumlow still didn't seem to be perfectly happy with Bucky's broken arm. He walked over closer to him and stood looking at the broken arm for a second. Then he suddenly reached out and grabbed the arm with his hands and squeezed it hard before twisting it even more out of place. The broken bone punctured Bucky's skin and stuck out of the side of it. Blood came spouting out of the torn skin and poured out everywhere.

Bucky shrieked. It was a horrifying, sickening shriek that was filled with nothing but raw pain.

Rumlow stepped back to avoid getting blood on himself.

"I'll have them fix that later." He said, nodding towards the grotesque looking arm. "But until then, sadly, I have to go. I have other work to do." He turned to go then turned back around and looked at Bucky before punching him in the stomach, then walked out of the room.

Bucky was moaning loudly and he felt sick. He threw up all over the floor until there was nothing left for him to throw up. Every movement hurt his broken arm and torn back and bruised ribs, but he curled up on the cold metal table he was on, trying to find a position that didn't hurt, but every which way he tried hurt and made him give small cries of pain.

Finally he just gave up, figuring any way he tried was going to hurt. He sat up and looked down at his broken arm. It almost made him sick to see it. It was still bleeding and the table now had blood all over it from the arm and his back, which still had a few open cuts on it. He was crying and whimpered every time he took a breath.

He couldn't think of anything else besides that he hurt, but he didn't try to stop himself from feeling the pain. Pain was a complicated thing for him. He had been trained and conditioned not to let himself feel and to block out any pain or hurt during his missions. So he did. He never felt it when he was on a mission. And if he did let himself feel anything for a moment, he would block it out as soon as possible.

But when Hydra caused the pain, it was different. He had been trained to let himself fully feel any pain they gave him because he was told that whenever they hurt him it was because he deserved it. So he didn't even try to block it out even though he could have toned out most of it if he had been allowed. But he wasn't allowed. So he always let himself feel any pain they caused to the full extent that he could.

No one ever comforted or helped him. Even when he had been wounded on a mission and they had to set a broken bone or give him stitches they never let him have a sedative or pain killer. Anytime someone touched him it was always only ever to hurt him. No one was ever kind to him. He didn't know it was possible for anyone to do anything nice to him. People were either afraid of him or they would hurt him. Those were the only two kinds of ways people could be.

Bucky sat there for most of the day before a team of Hydra doctors came in, followed by Rumlow.

Bucky's breathing starting becoming panicked and rapid as soon as he saw them.

Rumlow spoke as soon as he reached Bucky.

"Just so you know, the only reason I'm going to let them set that broken bone is so it doesn't heal like that...'cause you know, it could interfere with your missions if it was all messed up. If I could I'd just let it stay like that for awhile...but sadly, it needs to be fixed."

The Hydra doctors looked shocked to see how bad of a condition Bucky's arm was in. One of them spoke to Rumlow.

"This could take awhile. There's alot that's going to need to be done."

"Well then get to work!"

One of the doctors asked one of the others to give him a sedative.

"Wait. No. No sedatives."

The doctors all looked at Rumlow with looks of shock on their faces.

"Okay, then hand me an analgesic." Said one of the doctors.

"No painkillers either."

"But sir, that's not possible. It would be too painful for him. He wouldn't be able to hold still."

"He will. I'll just order him not to move." Rumlow turned toward Bucky.

"You hear that, Winter? You have to hold still. Completely still. Do you understand?"

A softly spoken "Yes." was the only reply.

Rumlow grinned. "Good." Then he turned back to the doctors. "You can now get to work."

They set about putting equipment everywhere. Rumlow went and picked something up and brought it over to Bucky.

"Since you're not going to get any painkillers, I guess I'll let you have this...besides, without it, you would probably hurt everyone's ears."

Bucky opened his mouth for Rumlow to put the mouthguard in. He realized this was probably going to hurt just as much as it did when he broke his arm, maybe more. And he had to remember not to move. At all.

The doctors cleaned up all the blood on Bucky's arm. They weren't gentle about it and Bucky gave a few small cries a few times.

Bucky's breathing was rapid and panicked as a few of the doctors began to grab onto his arm in various places. A few of them held his upper arm above the elbow and another one held the bottom part that was all twisted and where the bone was sticking out through the skin.

Bucky knew they were getting ready to try and pull the bone back into place so he closed his eyes tightly, lowered his head and bit down hard on the mouthguard.

One of the doctors nodded to the others and then strongly yanked Bucky's arm straight to try and at least get the bones a little back into place.

Bucky inhaled sharply at first, and then let out a scream. Without thinking he jolted his arm to the side. The pain was sharp and agonizing and lasted even after the Hydra doctors let go of his arm. He was rapidly taking deep breaths and started sobbing.

The head doctor sighed.

"He moved his arm. I don't think we got any of the bones back into place, we are going to have to try again, but if he keeps moving..."

Rumlow gritted his teeth angrily and looked at Bucky, who was still sobbing, before backhanding him hard across the face then giving him a swift punch in the ribs.

"What did I tell you?! Not to move, right!"

Bucky breathed "s, s, sorry" through the tears, but he was gasping for breath and crying so hard he could barely speak.

Rumlow looked around, frustrated. He took a deep breath and regained his composure. Then he pulled out the electric whip and showed it to Bucky.

"For every time you move you are going to get one of these on your back when they are done...so far it's just one...I don't think you want to make it more, do you?"

Bucky started shaking and crying even harder.

Rumlow rolled his eyes. "You are pathetic. Can you at least try to be quiet?!"

Bucky tried to calm himself down and stop crying but he couldn't.

Rumlow backhanded him across the face again. "Shut up, okay!?"

Bucky was almost out of tears to cry and he was gasping for breath but was able to calm himself down somewhat, knowing Rumlow might punish him if he didn't.

Rumlow smirked. "That's better."

Then he looked at the doctors again. "Alright, you can try again."

The doctors grabbed onto Bucky's arm again. Bucky braced himself again, repeating over and over again in his head that he could not move his arm.

There was another scream as the doctors tried to set Bucky's arm once again, but this time Bucky was able to hold it more still than before, but apparently not still enough. He still jerked it away the least little bit...but he wasn't trying to do it, it just seemed to happen.

The head doctor turned to Rumlow.

"We got it partially set, but we are going to need to do it again, and I think we are going to need to cut his arm open to put the bone that's sticking out of his skin back into place."

"Fine with me. Go on with it."

"But, sir, it would pretty much be surgery we would have to do. I highly recommend a sedative."

Rumlow shook his head. "No...he can handle it. He deserves for it to hurt. Besides, I enjoy seeing him in pain. Don't you?"

"I'm a doctor...not an interrogator..."

Rumlow shrugged. "Whatever...but no sedatives. Just get it all done as quicky as possible...I want to get back to torturing him."

"I...I thought you were done with that..."

"No, not at all. Besides, he moved his arm again, right?" Rumlow looked over at Bucky.

"Now it's up to two!" he taunted, showing him the electric whip again.

The doctors once again tried to set Bucky's arm, and it worked even better that time, but Bucky moved his arm in the slightest way again, and Rumlow just grinned and said "three."

Bucky was trying hard not to start crying again, but every once in awhile a tear would slide down his face.

The doctors started to get ready to cut his arm open, bringing over scapels and various other tools. Bucky turned his head away so he wouldn't have to watch. He was still sitting up on the table. One of the doctors told him to lay down and he obeyed, wincing when he moved from all the pain he was still in.

He closed his eyes, figuring it would be better to not have any idea what was going on.

After a few minutes minutes he felt something slicing into his skin on his arm. It hurt and he terribly wanted to pull his arm away from it. But he didn't. He kept his arm as still as he could, giving small cries and gasps of pain. Every time he moved his arm just a little Rumlow would just say out loud whatever number was next.

The doctors set about trying to set the splintered bones back into place. A few times Bucky screamed when they would do something that was especially painful. The pain was sharp and throbbing and agonizing. He tried to keep his breathing calm and steady, but it wasn't any use, he couldn't focus on anything besides the pain. He desperately wanted it to end, but it was awhile before the doctors finally seemed satisfied with it. They stitched up his arm and then wrapped it up in some sort of cast, though it wasn't much, only something that would barely keep his arm in a certain position for the bones to heal.

"Agent Rumlow, we are done with his arm now, but I think it might be a good idea to clean out the wounds on his back or they might get infected."

"I already did that...I dumped a whole container of alcohol on his back."

The doctor's eyes opened wide before he decided he better not looked so shocked that Rumlow would do something like that. "Oh, alright, then, we are all done here."

Rumlow nodded. The team of Hydra doctors filed out of the room.

Rumlow, who had been standing a short distance away from Bucky, walked over to him. He was still laying down the table, but he had started sobbing again.

"Aww...are you crying again?" Rumlow taunted. "Sit up."

Bucky sat up on the table with a cry of pain.

"Does it hurt?" Rumlow teased. "It must for all the pathetic crying you are doing. Anyway I think you moved your arm 8 times...but I'm not really sure...better make it 15."

Bucky started shaking and crying even harder.

Rumlow laughed. "You are so pathetic. But, you do have a right to be scared...because you are going to be in alot more pain."

Rumlow took the mouthguard out of Bucky's mouth.

"Well, answer me, I asked you if it hurt."

Bucky hated it when Rumlow was like that to him. He hated being humiliated almost as much as he hated being in pain, but he answered Rumlow with a pitiful sounding "yes" and then a sob.

"Shall we get started? I can't chain your one arm up because I don't want to undo all the work the doctors just did, but I can chain up the other one."

Bucky just sat there. He didn't know what to do, he hadn't really been ordered to move.

"Well, get over there!" Rumlow yelled. Bucky shrank away from Rumlow at first but then got down off the table and slowly made his way over to where the chains were hanging. There was dried blood all over the floor. No one had bothered to clean it up yet.

"I suppose I'll let you kneel just because I don't want your arm messed up again...but that's the only reason. Kneel down."

Bucky sank down to his knees and Rumlow chained his metal arm up in one of the chains.

Rumlow stood in front on Bucky and pulled out the whip.

"What did I say the count was up to? 15? How about 15 lashes and then some more alcohol dumped on it. I think that sounds good, don't you?"

Bucky let out a strangled sob. Rumlow smiled.

Bucky was screaming again as soon as the whip hit him the first time. But the pain wasn't enough for him to pass out. Just barely above the point where he would pass out, and he desperately wished he would, but the blackness never came.

The only thing that came was more pain. And Rumlow took his time. He would strike Bucky with the whip, then wait a minute before doing it again. Bucky would brace himself for the next lash and it wouldn't come. And then Rumlow would do it when Bucky least expected it. It only made him scream out even louder when he felt the whip dig into what was left of the skin on his back. Bits of bloody white bone were showing through in places amd blood was flowing off his back like a stream.

Bucky was too exhausted and in too much pain to cry or even make any noise by the time Rumlow was finished. If someone didn't know better, they might think he was dead. He was limp and motionless, and he fell to the ground with a thud and a small cry of pain when Rumlow unlocked the chain.

"Sit up."

Bucky could barely move but he didn't dare disobey Rumlow, so, with much effort and quite a few whimpers, he pushed himself up into a sitting position. His head hung down low and his arms were limp at his sides. He knew what Rumlow was going to do next but he almost didn't care. He was already in so much pain, how could something hurt him more?

But Rumlow didn't just dump the alcohol on Bucky's back. Instead, he took a rag and soaked it in alcohol. He didn't wring it out either. He brought it over to Bucky dripping wet.

Then he roughly rubbed the rag over Bucky's back and pushed it into any deep gashes there were. The alcohol sank down deep into his flesh and he arched his back as he felt the burning pain.

He groaned and clenched his teeth. The alcohol burned and burned even after Rumlow stopped applying it to his back.

Rumlow stood and watched until the pain subsided enough for Bucky to be aware of something besides it.

Rumlow sighed before speaking. "Sadly, I have other things to do...but before I go..."

Rumlow kicked Bucky hard in the ribs. Bucky toppled over onto the cold cement floor. He didn't even make any noise. He didn't have any voice left to cry out with. He needed to eat and drink, but he was in too much pain to even notice.

Rumlow left without saying another word.

Bucky layed on the floor, hoping he could fall asleep. But he couldn't. He was freezing cold and hurting too much to even begin to drift off for a few minutes. He thought how much he wanted Pierce to come back. Pierce had never let anything like this happen to him, and he hoped maybe Pierce would make Rumlow stop.

After awhile he heard the door to the room open and then footsteps approaching him. Through halfway closed eyes he saw it was a Hydra agent dressed in a black uniform. But he was glad to see it wasn't Rumlow. He didn't remember seeing the agent before, but he hardly remembered any of the Hydra agents, except for a few that were often present whenever Pierce was around.

The agent kneeled down next to Bucky.

"Hey, I'm going to try and get you cleaned up, okay?"

The agent got up and went over to examie Bucky's back. He winced and had to look away for a moment when he saw it. Then he sighed and walked back over and knelt down besides Bucky's head again.

"Does your back still hurt?"

Bucky nodded slowly.

"Yeah, okay, I'm going to try to stop some of the bleeding and get it bandaged up a bit, and it'll probably hurt some more when I do it. Rumlow was out there bragging about everything he did to you, and, well, some of us don't think he should have done any of it. We don't think Pierce would have let him go this far. And Rumlow's gone for the day, so I'm going to help you, okay?"

Bucky didn't quite understand. This agent was trying to help him, but he didn't know why. The only time anyone ever helped him was when he returned from missions and he was wounded.

The agent went and got some damp towels and some dry ones. He went over to Bucky's back.

"Alright, this is going to hurt, but it's going to help you."

Bucky winced and then whimpered a few times as the agent cleaned off as much of the blood as possible off Bucky's back.

The agent tried to place some of the shreds of skin back into place. He thought he better not not use any bandages because Rumlow might not like that at all. He already knew Rumlow wasn't going to be happy about seeing that Bucky had been helped at least a little. But a bunch of the Hydra agents had agreed to not say anything about who had done it.

The agent sighed.

"I think that's as good as I'm going to get that. Does it feel any better?"

Bucky didn't understand the question. No one ever asked him if he felt better or okay. "I, I don't know..." He braced himself for a blow, which never came.

The agent walked around so he was facing Bucky again. He looked at the huge swollen blue bruised area on Bucky's side.

"Hey, I think one of your ribs might be fractured, but I'm not sure, and I really don't know what to do with it." The agent glanced at a gash on Bucky's shoulder where the whip had somehow reached. It was bleeding slightly. The agent reached out to examine it.

Bucky started shaking and he whimpered even before the agent's hand had even touched his skin.

The agent saw that Bucky thought he was going to hurt him so he drew back his hand.

"Hey, shh...I'm not going to hurt you, okay? I'm trying to help you. By the way, my name is Agent Noren."

Agent Noren reached out to examine the cut again. He sighed sadly when Bucky still shook and whimpered as he touched him. Noren examined how deep it was, and he was glad to see it wasn't too bad compared to the rest of Bucky's back. He took one of the damp rags and cleaned off the blood around the cut and anywhere else it was.

Bucky seemed to calm down after awhile when he finally realized Agent Noren wasn't trying to hurt him.

When Agent Noren was finished he stood up.

"I'll be right back." He left the room for a few minutes and came back with some food and water. He set the items down on a table and went to go get a chair, which he set down beside the table. Then he went over to Bucky.

"Can you try to get up? I brought you something to eat and drink."

Bucky tried to get up, but he barely had the strength to even move the least little bit. Agent Noren helped pull him up and guide him over to the chair, which Bucky sat down in. He didn't pay attention to the food on the table in front of him. He hung his head and closed his eyes. He just wanted to sleep.

"I know you're tired, but you should try to drink this. You'll feel alot better."

Agent Noren put the cup of water up to Bucky's lips and tipped it upwards. Bucky weakly drank it at first and then almost inhaled the rest of it as soon as he realized how thirsty he was. He perked up a little after he finished it.

"Do you feel like eating anything?"

Bucky didn't say anthing. No one ever asked if he felt like doing anything...he never got asked what he wanted. But he knew he had to answer every question he was asked, so he answered with the only thing he could think of to say.

"I don't know." He then closed his eyes and braced himself for a punch.

Agent Noren saw this.

"I'm not going to hit you. You didn't do anything wrong."

Bucky couldn't comprehend what Agent Noren was saying. He sat with his eyes closed for a minute before slowly opening them. When he saw Agent Noren was just standing there a few feet away from him, one of his arms resting on the table, he relaxed a little. For the first time he actually noticed the food on the table in front of him, but he hadn't been ordered to eat it, so he just sat and stared at it.

"Go ahead, you can eat it." Noren said in a coaxing voice.

Bucky quickly started to devour the food the best he could with his metal arm.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down, you're going to make yourself sick."

Bucky stopped eating abruptly. Then he slowly resumed, making sure to take his time.

When he finished he just stopped and looked at the empty plate.

Agent Noren walked over. Bucky was quite a bit more perkier than he had been earlier, but he was obviously still in alot of pain. Every now and then he would wince or let out a small whimper.

Noren noticed that some of the wounds on Bucky's back had started bleeding again so he dried off the blood once more.

"Well, I think that's all I can do for you for now. You might like to know I don't think Pierce will be happy with Rumlow when he gets back."

Bucky knew he wasn't supposed to ask questions or even ever want anything, but he knew that he wanted to know when Pierce was coming back...when this would hopefully end. So, despite all the training and programming telling him not to, he asked.

"When?"

Noren looked startled that Bucky had spoken, but then smiled sadly.

"You mean when is Pierce going to come back? In about three days, I think. Maybe two. I've gotta go now...why don't you lie down on the table and try to sleep? I really wish I could give you a painkiller or something but if Rumlow ever found out..." Agent Noren's voice trailed off and then he sighed.

"Anyway...I hope you can rest. Goodnight." Noren took the empty plate and cup walked out of the room.

Bucky felt quite a bit better than he did earlier that day. He laid down on the table as Noren had suggested and tried to fall asleep, which actually didn't take long. He slept soundly most of the night until he woke up screaming from a nightmare. After that every time he fell asleep he would have another nightmare which would jolt him back awake.

When Rumlow walked into the room the next morning he was shocked at first to see Bucky laying down on the table. That shock quickly turned to anger as he walked up to Bucky, who was asleep, and grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled hard on it, waking Bucky up. Bucky gave a short whine before he realized it was Rumlow. His eyes widened and he quickly sat up. Rumlow stepped back.

"What are you doing on this table?"

"Someone told me I could..." He was cut off by Rumlow.

"Who?"

Bucky didn't answer at first. He wasn't really paying attention when Agent Noren said his name and he didn't remember it.

"I don't know."

Rumlow raised his hand as if he was going to hit Bucky, but then put it back down.

For the first time it occurred to Rumlow that there wasn't as much blood on Bucky. He narrowed his eyes and walked around to look at his back.

When he saw how there was almost no blood on it and that it looked alot better than he had left it yesterday, he gritted his teeth.

Rumlow walked over to the door, opened it, and stepped into the hallway outside the room.

"Whoever's on duty, get in here NOW!" Rumlow yelled in an angry voice.

A handful of agents came running.

Rumlow walked back into the room and they followed.

"Does anyone know who did this?"

"Did what, sir?" asked one of the agents.

"Someone came in last night and cleaned up all the blood off of him." Rumlow replied, motioning to Bucky.

There was silence.

"Well...who did it?"

A few of the agents said "I don't know." And they probably didn't. Only a couple of agents had been in on the plan to have someone help Bucky. One of them was present. It wasn't Noren though.

Rumlow's eyes darted around to each agent.

"Alright then."

Rumlow pulled out a knife and clicked it back into the lock position. He surveyed the agents one more time before turning to Bucky. He took the knife and swiftly stabbed it into Bucky's leg.

Bucky yelped and then winced.

"If anyone ever helps him again...I'm just going to hurt him worse. Understood?"

A chorus of "Yes, sir." came from the agents.

Rumlow twisted the knife sideways. Bucky gasped and then cried out in pain before Rumlow pulled the knife out.

"Alright. Dismissed."

The agents left the room and Rumlow was left alone with Bucky.

"So...did whoever did this give you something to eat too?"

"Yes."

"Get off the table."

Bucky slowly hopped off the table and stood in front of Rumlow. Rumlow pulled out the knife again and clicked it open.

"You're missing some blood on your back...but I can fix that. Turn around and get on your knees."

Bucky did as Rumlow had ordered. Just then the door opened. Rumlow quickly turned around. He looked startled when he realized who it was.

It was Pierce. He walked over to Rumlow without saying a word and just looked at him.

"Sir, you're back." Rumlow stated, for once at a loss for words.

"Yes, I am. What are you doing?" Pierce looked down at Bucky.

When Bucky heard Pierce's voice he felt relieved then scared that Pierce might have Rumlow keep on hurting him.

Rumlow didn't quite know what to say. He hadn't expected Pierce to be back yet. He glanced down at the knife in his hand.

"Uh, I was just, uh, punishing him."

"For what?"

"He bruised my arm."

"How did that happen?" Pierce didn't give Rumlow time to answer. "I was told what you've been doing. Now, I have no problem with you torturing him just because you want to, but look at him!"

Pierce kicked Bucky and he fell over onto the floor with a whimper.

"He can barely move! If he wasn't a super soldier he would probably be dead right now! He's no use to me like this!"

Rumlow looked taken aback. He had never seen Pierce actually hurt Bucky himself, he always ordered someone else to.

"Like I said, I don't care if you want to hurt him, but keep it within limits, Rumlow!"

"Yes, sir."

"I don't want you having any interaction with him for awhile. I'm going to assign you to work with Experiment 312."

"What exactly do you want me to do with him?"

"Train him. He's very defiant and I think you can break him."

Rumlow inwardly groaned. Not that sassy teenage brat.

"Yes, sir." Rumlow said, not showing how unhappy he really was.

"You are to start immediately, and by immediately, I mean right this minute."

"What about the asset?"

"I'll have a medic team take care of him. Get out of here Rumlow."

Rumlow left the room, quite unhappy and angry. It occurred to him that at least he could take it out on his new victim, Experiment 312. Pierce had wanted him to break him. Oh, he'd break him, all right.

Meanwhile, Pierce went and called a medic team who came and treated Bucky's wounds. They took care of him until he was strong enough to go back into cryo freeze, and then they froze him again. And that's how he stayed until he was needed once more.


End file.
